


false reflection

by aspidocheloner



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Jungwoo Is Maybe Kinda Fae, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Ten Is Fae, but that's lowkey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-12 23:38:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16005674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aspidocheloner/pseuds/aspidocheloner
Summary: [the well] looks ancient, somehow older than the ruins behind him. The wooden roof is barely standing, all sagging and rotting and soaked with water. As he steps closer, he sees the tattered remains of a rope, but no bucket. Absentmindedly, he wonders where it went. The well is in worse condition than the castle, though- when he places his hands on the stone brick wall, it crumbles under his touch, and the pieces fall into the water. He peers over the edge, curious, as the ripples disturb the surface of the dark water and distort his reflection. When the water calms, it's like glass. His reflection stares back at him, a mirror image. Except, something feels off. The more he studies it, the more the reflection looks like a poor imitation.Then his reflection smiles, a too-sharp smile with too-many teeth, and a wet clawed hand is grabbing his arm and dragging Jungwoo into the well.-or, jungwoo has reserved himself to never leaving his tiny hometown except for when he's reading in the local library. at least, until he finds a peculiar novel that leads him somewhere greater than he could have ever dreamed- to a ruined castle, to a secret world, and to a sly, far-too-pretty boy called ten.





	false reflection

**Author's Note:**

  * For [leo bc she's why i wrote it](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=leo+bc+she%27s+why+i+wrote+it).



Most people don't know about a little town in South Korea called Masul-mun. Maybe it's because it's primarily populated by four small families, who all seem to have more sons than they can handle. Maybe it's because the town is surrounded by a thick, lush forest that has winding dirt roads that never seem to stay in the same place. Maybe it's simply that nobody ever takes the chance to look. Whatever it is, that same force that keeps people out of Masul-mun keeps people in. Sure, the young folks will leave for college, or to find themselves, or to find the love of their life, but they always seem to come back.  
  
This knowledge weighs on one Kim Jungwoo like shackles.   
  
You see, Jungwoo doesn't like his hometown. If you can call it that, really. He's only been living there since he was fifteen. Before, him and his parents had never stayed in one place long, constantly moving cities and homes and jobs and schools. His father had always said that his mother had winged feet. When she got the itch, they moved on. His father, one of those sons of one of Masul-mun's family's, never felt the itch. He only felt two hooks, always pulling him in separate directions. One, to his fleet-footed love, and the other, to the town that was his home.   
  
Until one night, they were following his mother's itch and his father's hook, and Jungwoo's father was driving. His mother was singing, something sweet and haunting. A lullaby. Jungwoo was having trouble falling asleep, and they wanted him to be well-rested when they arrived at his aunt's house.   
  
Then all Jungwoo could hear was shattering glass, ragged breathing, sirens, too many voices and then-   
  
Jungwoo has a lot of reasons to hate this town.   
  
One of them is that no matter how hard he tries not to, he loves it.   
  
The list of reasons is as follows.   
  
1\. His aunt. Technically, his great-aunt. He's never called her anything but auntie. He doesn't even know her name. She's the only woman that hasn't been married into the Kim family for three generations. She's never given Jungwoo candy, but she taught him how to throw knives for fun and what rocks are valuable. She's over ninety, now, but her eyes are just as bright as the ones in photos of her as a young girl.   
2\. His cousin. Doyoung has left Masul-mun, but he'll be back. He's at college. When he comes home, it'll be with whatever pretty girl or boy he wants to settle down with. They'll open the little florist shop that Doyoung has dreamed of since he was sixteen and successfully kept a tulip from dying for his blow-off floral design class. Doyoung is Jungwoo's favorite cousin; he's the one that made him flower crowns everyday for a year after he started living in Masul-mun. Doyoung would always say it was for practice. Jungwoo saw it for what it was, though. A bright peace offering in dark times.   
3\. The coffee shop. It's never too loud, or too quiet. The lighting is never harsh; natural light filters through the gauzy white curtains and golden lanterns hang above every table. The ceiling is painted like a cloudy sky on a summer day, all radiant light blues and beaming whites. Jungwoo doesn't even like coffee, but they have the best blackberry tea. At least, they say it's blackberry, but it's sharp and sweet and vaguely fruity. The color changes, often, but it's always deep violets and navy, swirling and swirling and speckled, somehow, with flecks of white. It's like cosmos in a teacup. Jungwoo frequently spends his time there, reading, curled up in his favorite armchair.   
4\. The library (and the librarian). The library is like his second home. It's unlike any other library he's been in. It isn't dusty, or too cold, or too quiet. The building itself is unique- an octagonal, near dome like shape rises from the first, most normal floor. That's the observatory. It's not actually an observatory, of course. That's just what everyone calls it. But the base floor, the library, is just as nice. It seems endless, and tucked into surprise nooks are comfy pillows. At nearly every corner is an area with bean-bag chairs, and a book cart. The librarian, Taeil, had just took up the job when Jungwoo arrived. He was kind to Jungwoo, sixteen and grieving, when he decided to escape into the maze that was the shelves every day of the summer.   
5\. The observatory. It could probably be lumped in with the library, but to Jungwoo, they're completely different entities. The room is dim, eight dark shelves lining eight  dark walls, the only light sources the stained glass skylight and the painted glass moons hanging from the ceiling. Taeil paints them- glass globes of all different sizes, blues and yellows and pinks casting colored shadows. Sometimes, people joke that the observatory is Taeil's heart; it's fitting, because it carries Yuta and Sicheng in it, too. The skylight is of Cassiopeia, but she's always upright, because Yuta likes it better that way. There's a shelf of books dedicated solely to science and astrology for Sicheng. All the best books are in the observatory; old, shiny hardbacks with the titles smoothed away.   
  
The observatory is where Jungwoo got _the book_ . The cover was a deep red, and seemed to draw the light to it. It wasn't as good as he thought it would be, though; the writing and story were beautiful, but something about it unsettled him. Made his skin itch. Maybe it was the fact that it was set partially in Masul-mun, or that the clever man and the faerie princess he loved reminded him of the parents. It detailed the path through the woods to a vibrant castle and for some reason, Jungwoo wanted to see if it was real.   
  
It was, to some extent; the clear path that had been detailed in the story was overgrown and wild, and he had to look for the clues. They were there, though; three opalescent stones shaped like frogs, an archway made out of fallen, flowering branches, a tree with a hollow hole shaped like a heart, a vivid red rosebush in the middle of the forest, and others. That's what led him to where he is now.   
  
Standing, at the mouth of a clearing, wildflowers and tall grass tickling his bare knees, the ruins of a castle in front of him. In the book, it hadn't been ruins. It had been an abandoned castle in perfect condition, but even with ivy covering its crumbling walls, he can tell it's the one from the book. For a second, Jungwoo wonders who built it, but he dismisses the thought in favor of studying the building ahead.   
  
It’s missing one of its towers, but when he looks for it, he finds the rubble. The tower had fallen out, not in. That must be why the castle looks so sturdy. Like it would hold if he wanted to go inside. Logically, he knows that he shouldn't; that even though it looks sturdy, the castle could fall at any moment. but for a second, one brief, shining second, he wonders what it looks like inside, wonders if the artful tapestries the author (unnamed, worn away from the books cover like the title) described have faded or simply fallen apart with the passage of time. Wonders if the mirror that the clever man fell into is still there, or shattered on the floor.   
  
But it's only for a second, and while curiosity might not kill a cat permanently, getting crushed by a wall collapsing would surely do Jungwoo in. He stands for a little bit, opening the book and tracing of the crisp lines of the illustration of the castle. It's impossible not to wonder what the castle looked like in all its splendor. He has to be home for dinner, though, so he only spares a second to mourn before walking around the ruins, into the courtyard.   
  
The courtyard is in a similar state to the castle. The flower beds are overrun with weeds and dandelions, but one stubborn rosebush seems to be holding out. The stone path is barely visible, covered with dirt and grass. Some of the steps are simply missing. In the middle of the courtyard, though, is a well. It's illustrated in the novel, too, for some reason. Jungwoo can't imagine why. Much like the castle, the well looks much better in the book than in real life. Still, he is inexplicably drawn to it, so he moves forward.   
  
It looks ancient, somehow older than the ruins behind him. The wooden roof is barely standing, all sagging and rotting and soaked with water. As he steps closer, he sees the tattered remains of a rope, but no bucket. Absentmindedly, he wonders where it went. The well is in worse condition than the castle, though- when he places his hands on the stone brick wall, it crumbles under his touch, and the pieces fall into the water. He peers over the edge, curious, as the ripples disturb the surface of the dark water and distort his reflection. When the water calms, it's like glass. His reflection stares back at him, a mirror image. Except, something feels off. The more he studies it, the more the reflection looks like a poor imitation.   
  
Then his reflection smiles, a too-sharp smile with too-many teeth, and a wet clawed hand is grabbing his arm and dragging Jungwoo into the well.

**Author's Note:**

> hi! i'm penelope.
> 
> this is my first nct fic, but it's in a universe that i'm really happy with. i don't know if it's going to be a fully plotted story or anything like that, but i fully intend for jungwoo to meet ten next chapter. the way this is looking, it'll likely be a series of one or two shots set in this universe.
> 
> i hope you like it! if you wanna chat, you can find me at @suhlmate on twitter. if you have any questions, feel free to ask them by dming me or commenting. and if you liked this, pretty please leave a kudos! it feeds me and makes me wanna write faster.


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